1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disassembly tool, and more particularly to a universal ball joint extractor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an automobile chassis, there are usually several ball joints employed in the entire mechanism; these ball joints can wear out with time and usage and need replacement. A ball joint mounted to an automobile chassis has a connecting end and a ball joint end. Conventional disassembly tools are composed of a first body, a second body, a connecting rod, and a control screw. A first applying end of the first body pushes against the connecting end of the ball joint. A second applying end of the second body pushes against the automobile chassis. Since the ball joint end is larger than the connecting end, the second applying end is provided with an opening for accepting the ball joint end. When the first body and the second body are disposed correctly, a user operates the control screw to push against both of a second rear end of the second body and a first rear end of the first body to make the first applying end push out the ball joint.
However, different automobile chassis from different manufacturers or for different vehicles have ball joints with different dimensions, which requires different disassembly tools.
As disclosed in EU patent No. EP0803332, the connecting rod connecting the first body and the second body is capable of changing a distance between the second applying end and the first applying end, to adapt to different shaft dimensions of the different ball joints. Furthermore, the second body is changeable for ball joints with different dimensions. However, for different ball joints, different second bodies are required, which is still very inconvenient.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a universal ball joint extractor to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.